Finding Gallifrey
by Writteroftime
Summary: The Doctor has finally found his home, but he needs his companion and best friend with him as the Doctor faces his most personal mission.
1. Chapter 1

Clara Oswald was not happy. She was standing in the TARDIS with her arms folded as the Doctor fiddles with the console. He had burst into her class and in 5 seconds had managed to insult her, her students and her class by saying she needed her to come with him. Before she had really began to argue he had grabbed her arm and pulled her out to the familiar box and had set the controls. "So any chance of finding out where we're going while I'm still young" she said in a sarcastic tone of voice. The Doctor was still looking down at the console. "Of course" he looks up at her "Oh actually too late" She tilts her head. "What's that supposed to mean?" He gives a small shrug "well Clara I can't tell while you're still young because you're not young anymore, how old are you now 50 or 60?" She rolls her eyes at him nudging him with her hip playfully. "Very funny" she says sarcastically. He looks at her and walks over, looking down at his smaller friend. "Okay I'll tell you what we're doing, we're finding Gallifrey" She looks shocked not expecting this at all. "G..Gallifrey?" she stares at him. He nods at her "Yes Gallifrey I just said that make sure you listen properly, I found it a few hours ago, well I sort of found it but I needed to come and get you first. Now shut up while I work, resume your normal position of standing there looking impressed"

An hour had passed in silence as The Doctor pressed buttons and pulled levers and mumble angrily to himself for a while. Finally he yells out happily "There we are" Clara looks up and runs over. "What have you found it?" She asked excited. The Doctor looks at her nods "Of course I have, now I'm going to try and contact them so don't say anything stupid which would be a miracle for a human being" Clara grumbles at his rudeness. "If humans are so stupid why bring me and take the risk?" He looks down at the console as he talks in his softest Scottish tone. "Because without you I wouldn't be able to do this, without you Gallifrey would be dead and so would I, I'd be rotting in a tomb on Trenzalore that's why, now any questions?" She stares at him, surprised at his words, she shakes her head. He nods approvingly. "Good now let get to work"

"Calling Gallifrey High Command this is the Doctor speaking, are you there?" He speaks into the console as Clara stands next to him biting her fingernails nervously. There's no response, he grumbles and repeats the request Still there is nothing He gets even angrier. "Gallifrey come in you stupid dusty old fossils can you hear me?" After a while there is a low crackling noise from the console and a vice speaks out. "Hello, hello this Gallifrey High Command, Doctor is that you?" The Doctor rolls his eyes at the voice. "well seeing as I just said this is the Doctor speaking I thought that'd give you a pretty big clue" Clara rolls her eyes at him, slightly amused that even in an important mission like this he still couldn't help himself to be sarcastic and rude. The voice speaks again. "It's a bad line Doctor, about time you're here we've been waiting ages to be rescued" He raises his eyebrows. "Oh well I apologise if I haven't been super-fast for you seeing as I spent over 900 years defending you in that stupid time crack of yours, maybe if you'd given me that new regeneration cycle quicker instead of waiting right until the end and waiting for a human girl to ask you to I'd have been faster finding you. But oh I'm sure it's been so hard for you sitting on your backsides doing nothing while I do all the work. Nothing ever changes does it?" Clara raises her arms at him shaking her head. "Doctor why don't you just land then go have a face to face row instead of ranting down the phone" He looks up from the console at her. "Because they've got defences up stopping a direct landing" He looks back at the console. "You need to disable your frequency modulators and pass al the power of your Eye of Harmony up to me" There was a few moments silence before the voice spoke again. "Yes we can do that right now, it is done so get down here"

After the connection broke The Doctor ran around the console pulling different lever. Finally he looks round to Clara. "Right are you ready?" She gives a small laugh. "No" She grins The Doctor stays straight faced. "Me neither" He pulls down the main lever as the TARDIS starts shaking and rumbling. Smoke starts billowing through the console and through the floors. It shakes from side to side, books fall from the shelves they are on. Clara and The Doctor are clinging on tightly to the console. Suddenly they land and immediately he runs to the door. Clara follows close behind as they step out into a beautiful city. The walls were shining, the sky was dark and all was quiet. Clara looks around with awe on her face. "Doctor where are we? Did we make it? Where are we?" she repeats looking at him. His face is unreadable giving nothing away as he says his answer. "Home Clara, I'm home."

A/N Hope you guys enjoyed that. I'll be adding more parts to it about them actually bringing it back. I'd love to hear what you think of it so please review.


	2. Chapter 2

They look around at their surroundings taking everything in. There Is a couple of small houses which look more like barns. They are all have their own farms but apart from that there was nothing else in sight. The area they had landed in as a huge desert as far as they could see. Clara gives a small whistle "So this is the famous Gallifrey then, no offence but I thought there'd be more here" The Doctor rolls his eyes at her. "Clara this is only a very small part of Gallifrey, the stupid instruments must've landed us in the wrong place. We were meant to end up by the Citadel where the High Council is sitting there doing nothing, waiting for me to save them" He sighs and looks around "Looks like we're going to have to walk. I can't risk taking the TARDIS or we may not be able to land again" Clara nods and smiles brightly "Well the sus coming up it, it seems like a nice day I'm sure a walk would be lovely how far is it anyway?" She asks with a happy smile on her face. The Doctor looks around and gives a casual shrug "Around 100 miles give or take a few feet" Clara's face falls "100 miles? Are you joking? Wait stupid question of course you're not, fine let's get on with it but if I die of exhaustion I'm going to be very cross" She folds her arms and starts walking in a random direction. The Doctor starts walking in the opposite direction. "This way Clara" She grumbles mumbling under her breath as she follows after him.

"So of course after that he got caught because I made him go and place it in Borusas quarters, I knew it was stupid to try and break in and he was always the reckless one. He got locked up for 2 weeks in the council chamber but I felt bad so I broke him out. I wish I hadn't now though after everything that happened" The Doctor rambles on, having been talking like this for the past 3 hours about his old stories from his days at the academy. At first Clara had been very interested but as they walked on and she got very tired as the sun was causing her to sweat profusely, she was starting to get frustrated and losing her temper. "Doctor please no offence but I don't really care what you and the Master got up to during your schooldays we've been walking for hours, I have sand in my shoes and I'm probably going to have a terrible sunburn tomorrow so please give it a rest" The Doctor frowns down at her. "Fine I was trying to take your mind off the long walk but by all means focus on how tired you are and how bad this is I'm sure that'll make you feel a lot better" he says sarcastically. She sighs" I'm sorry I didn't mean to snap but I'm not exactly a big walker, how much further is there?" The Doctor takes his sonic screwdriver out and scans the area. "We're over half way there and we'll be out of this stupid desert soon so it won't be as tough a walk. I'm sure they'll have some Time Lords waiting for us so we won't miss them.

After another half an hour of walking they are still in the desert and neither are talking much to save their energy, but Clara couldn't hold her tongue for long. "For god sake we're on Gallifrey a planet that invented Time Travel surely you lot have some way of getting through a desert" The Doctor looks at her. "No we don't this whole area was surrounded in a time bubble millions of years ago, meaning that only a TARDIS could get through it. It was done to stop thieves and criminals escaping. I can't believe we landed here of all place" He grumbles. Clara looks at him "Why? He shakes his head "never mind" Eventually they see something in the clearing. It's an old tattered barn just standing there like a relic. Clara squints at it "Random place to put a barn" The Doctor frowns ignoring her and moves quickly past her and goes straight to the barn. Clara follows as he walks in it. He walks through it slowly taking it in. Clara follows him in and gasps as she recognises it. Both Clara and The Doctor had been in this barn. They were in the barn that the Doctor planned to use the moment and end the Time War until Clara had stopped them and they had formed the plan that bought them here. Clara had also been here very recently though The Doctor didn't know this. He was standing in the same position his predecessor stood in about to press the moment, he then moved to a place where Clara knew his bed had been when he was a child. Clara walks over to him. "So we're back here again ai, it's kind of full circle you coming here he day you return, to the place where you slept as a child" She says it without thinking, he instantly whips around looking at her. "What did you say?" She tenses up looking down a little. "You um you grew up here didn't you" He frowns even more" How do you know that?" She bites her lip nervously trying to play it cool. "You told me didn't you, the day we saved Gallifrey you said it was where you grew up" He shakes his head frowning at her. "I don't talk about my childhood especially that" He frowns then gasps as he has a memory of a dream that he had completely forgotten about. Or he thought it was a dream. The words play in his head from a now very familiar female voice with a northern accent. He remembers her speaking to him.

"Listen. This is just a dream. But very clever people can hear dreams. So please just listen. I know you're afraid, but being afraid is alright. Because didn't anyone ever tell you- fear is a super power. Fear can make you faster, and cleverer and stronger Fear can bring you home. One day you're going to come back to this barn and on that day you are going to be very afraid indeed. But that's okay. Because if you're very wise and very strong, then fear doesn't have to make you cruel or cowardly. Fear can make you kind. It doesn't matter if there's nothing under the bed or in the dark. So long as you know its okay to be afraid of it. So listen. If you listen to nothing else listen to this. You're always going to be afraid, even if you learn to hide it. Fear is like a companion. A constant companion, always there. But that's okay. Because fear can bring us together. Fear can bring you home I'm going to leave you something. Just so you always remember fear makes companions of us all."

His eyes lock onto hers frowning at her. "It was you, you were here. You came into here, said 2 names I didn't know. You are the monster under my bed. But that's impossible how could it have been you? Maybe it was one of your echoes I suppose it makes sense." Clara sighs and shakes her head." No Doctor it was me. It was that time when we went to the end of the universe, you were knocked out and whatever was out there was breaking in. I put my hands in the telepathic circuits and ended up in this barn, you were crying and scared I couldn't just leave you I'm sorry I know it was wrong" He frowns more pacing around the barn his eyes not leaving hers. "You told to leave and not look where we were" She sighs nodding. "I knew you'd be mad I knew we shouldn't have been there, and its not as if we were on proper Gallifrey were we I mean you couldn't have bought it back from there?" He nods "no I couldn't have, you made the right decision getting me to leave Clara" He sighs and looks down. "You could've changed the future, you could've changed me with what you did, you know the rules Clara and you broke them." She shakes her head getting defensive. "If I had done nothing what would have happened?" He frowns. "It's impossible to tell I could've stayed the same as I am now, or I could've joined the army like they wanted. Look we'll talk about tis later we've got work to do"

They leave the barn not talking at all until the exit the desert .They see in the distance a shining palace. "That's it that's the Citadel come on last stretch" They walk towards it to 2 waiting guards who say they're to take him to the council chambers. He gruffly agrees as they lead him and Clara to a door and opens the door. The Doctor and Clara face the High Councils table.

The first meeting of Galifreys return was now in session.


	3. Chapter 3

Clara looks around at the massive chamber. There was a large round table in the centre of the room where the High Council were seated. They were all dressed in long red robes, which Clara had memories of from some of her previous echoes. Clara had a quick giggle to herself thinking about what the Doctor would look like dressed in them. Around the wall of the chamber were symbols which were in Gallireyan so Clara couldn't understand any of it. The room was certainly impressive. The Doctor didn't look impressed at all. He walked straight into the room towards the centre table. One of the Time Lords, probably the leader rose to his feet and walked over to the Doctor holding out his hand. "Lord Doctor at last we meet" The Doctor nods and removes his jacket placing it in the mans outstretched hand "Thank you don't get it creased, hang it up somewhere safe" He walks past him and went to the table. Clara went to follow. One of the Time Lords spoke. "I'm sorry Doctor but your companion is not allowed in here she'll have to wait outside" The Doctors eyes whipped round to the man who looked down a little. The Doctor spoke in a clear voice. "If you want my help then Clara stays in here with me. I wouldn't trust you to look after her" The Time Lord nods. "Okay she can stay. The Doctor nods and sits down with Clara.

"So who are you lot anyway I've never seen you here in my life. But you do seem right for the job you all look like idiots" The Time Lords exchanged glances before the leader speaks. "I am Bokkus; this is Gramnon, Lankrian and torpan." The Doctor nods at them. "Okay you're idiot 1, you're idiot 2, you're idiot 3 and you're idiot 4." He points to each of them as he says it. Bokkus sighs. "Doctor please, we're all here to work together maybe you could try using some manners." The Doctor looks at him. "Yes you're right I'll try to do that idiot 1. Now where's Rassilon I will not work with that fool, I want him clapped in irons and kept out of my way while we do our work" Bokkus looks to him, then looks around at the rest of council exchanging looks as Torpan speaks. "Lord President Rassilon has gone missing; he was never seen after the final sanction during the last days of the Time War. But I'm afraid to say that the Master escaped. He stole a crashed TARDIS which contained a data slice" The Doctor rolls his eyes at them. "Get with the times idiot 4 I've already dealt with her, she was converting the dead of the human race into Cybermen." They all look at each other as Bokkus speaks in a confused tone of voice. "Did you just say she? You mean The Master regenerated into a woman?" The Doctor nods. "That's exactly what I'm saying and oh it's not the Master anymore. Now she calls herself Missy" Clara looks up at him confused as she speaks for the first time since they entered. "So you're saying Missy used to be a man? Wow you Time Lords really do change a lot don't you." She laughs a little. The Doctor ignores her. "Right never mind gossiping like primitive humans let's get to work. To get Gallifrey out of this dimension and back into the normal universe it's going to take a lot of work. We need to get a dimensional shift of the planet's surface in order to break free of the zones of this universe but we have to do it without causing any damage to either of these universes. So come on you've all been sitting on your backsides for hundreds of years you must have ideas even you morons can think of something." Clara talks in a small voice, mainly looking at him. "This is probably a stupid idea but you moved it here with those cube things, so why can't you just do it again to move it back? The Doctor turns and looks at her. "You're right Clara, that is a stupid idea I have n calculations of this universe so next idea now."

Bokkus looks at the Doctor nervously as he speaks. "Well Doctor we have a plan but it's dangerous. There are crystals that have the infinite amount of energy to move anything including a planet. If we plug them into the Eye Of Harmony it should be enough to get Gallifrey in a state of flux where you can use your TARDIS to bring us back." The Doctor stares at Bokkus for a minute as he thinks before he talks. "Idiot 1 that could actually work. With Gallifreys size and the population surface we'd need approximately 8 crystals, so the question is where are these crystals?" Bokkus looks even more uncomfortable. "They um they're in the caves of the dark wastelands." The Doctor frowns even more. "The dark caves? Nobody knows what creatures are in them, nobody knows the radiation levels, you'd have to be mad or a fool to go in there. But a team of Time Lords could get in there and find the crystals. Well I'm hoping you've already done it." The whole table looks down a little. "Umm well we were waiting for the right time and person." The Doctor frowns annoyed. "You bunch of cowards you've had hundreds of years to find those crystals but you've sat down and waited for me to come and do it for you." Bokkus sighs and looks him dead in the eye. "Doctor we know you're the only one who can survive those caves and the only one who could get to the crystals. Please Doctor we need you." The Doctor sighs and stands up glaring. "You already know what my answer is don't you, you know I've always been fascinated by those caves. I'll be back with your crystals just make sure everything else is ready. Clara lets go we've got work to do." He storms out of the chamber with Clara following him. As they made their long walk back to the TARDIS they discussed their options of how to get into the most dangerous cave in the universe.


	4. Chapter 4

During the long walk back to the TARDIS, The Doctor and Clara didn't speak at all. He was too busy thinking about what was coming in those caves. Once they get back inside the TARDIS The Doctor walks up to the console and starts looking at the monitor. Clara wipes the sweat off her forehead and then walks up to him folding her arms. "So go on then what are these cave things then?" She asks looking at him curiously. He ignores for a minute then turns to look at her, he looks down into her brown eyes as he speaks. "The dark caves Clara are the rejects of galleyfreyan society, The Time Lords developed hundreds of different ways of controlling the fabric of time. Not all of them were used. Some were too dangerous, some didn't work and some like those idiots couldn't use them. So they were thrown into the cave and ignored far away from the civilisation. Of course some were curious about what was in there what kind of powerful technology was in there. Many tried to get in. None were ever seen again. Some believed they were killed by the radiation, others believe they got lost In the caves. Personally I believe the technology was powerful enough to kill them dead In there. We need these crystals, they're very rare like that moron Bokkus said those crystals that have the infinite amount of energy to move anything including a planet. So this will be dangerous understand?" Clara gives him a big grin at his last question and speaks with a hint of cheekiness and sarcasm in her voice. "Are you trying to put me off?" He looks at her surprised at her comment and shakes his head. "Don't be so stupid, I'm trying to recruit you. Now we need to be fast so keep up, if you fall behind you stay behind do you understand?" He glares at her. Clara grins at him giving a playful salute. "Yes sir" He frowns even more as he sets the TARDIS moving.

As the TARDIS lands, The Doctor and Clara step outside. They are standing in a wasteland, ruins of houses surround them and old skeletons line the floors. "Nice place" Clara said with heavy sarcasm. The Doctor rolls his eyes at her. "Like I said these wastelands are out of reach only criminals and mutants come round here" Clara looks around and nods. "Yeah criminals, mutants and the occasional Dalek" She points over his shoulder. He spins round quickly seeing a shell of a badly damaged Dalek. "Oh yeah well remember there has just been a Time War here maybe the Daleks wanted the technology as well. I don't the council would've bothered cleaning up the old poor areas. Hmm doesn't sound that different to London if you think about it" Clara rolls her eyes at his joke , nudging him gently. "Were you actually trying to be funny there?" She asks with a laughs. He simply shrugs. "Thought I'd try it out I won't be doing that again now come on let's get moving" They walk to a tiny hole in a wall that they'd only just be able to fit through. Clara raised her eyebrows looking at the hole confused. "Well to be honest Doctor I was expecting something more impressive" He grumbles audibly and rolls his eyes at her. "My god do you humans have any brain cells. The most important part of Time Lord technology?" He doesn't wait for an answer as he climbs through the hole. Clara grumbles and follows him through and gasps as the cave revealed into a massive area that looked more like a temple with Time Lord Symbols covering the walls. "Bigger on the inside" The Doctor states answering his own question from before. Clara stands up next to him. "Right which way then?" Clara asks looking at him. The Doctor looks around thinking. "We need to get to the deepest point of the cave, that's where the crystals will be so this way." He starts walking down a random pathway. Clara follows him looking around uneasily. They walk for a while without encountering any problems. They eventually reach a large wooden door. The Doctor walks up to it to open it but it wouldn't budge. "Just sonic it Doctor" Clara says simply as she watches him. He looks round at her. "Don't you ever listen it doesn't do wood and anyway it wouldn't work in here" Clara looks at him a bit annoyed. "So that's it? Game over at the first hurdle a locked door?" He grumbles feeling around the door. "Shut up a second I'm busy" He eventually finds a button on the door, he presses and suddenly the whole caves shakes. Clara screams and holds onto the walls. The Doctor doesn't react just watching the door as a monitor appears and a dark shaky voice speaks. "You have tried to pass through this test Random generated questions and puzzles will appear, to pass through you must complete it all correctly in 10 minutes. If you fail to meet these requirements you will be erased from time." The Doctors eyes widen. "Oh of course this used to be the final exam at the academy but was abolished billions of years ago." Clara bites her lip watching. "Hmm yeah no kidding. Well no big deal there's 2 of us surely we can do it" The Doctor shakes his head not looking at her. "No only I can answer if you interfere we fail and I can't afford to be erased from time. If that happens all of reality will die. So no pressure let's just hope I'm as smart as everyone knows I am." The clock starts and a series of puzzles appear. The Doctor instantly sets to work typing out complicated co-ordinates and codes. He quickly passes through loads of tests easily. He then gets to one on how to fly a TARDIS in the correct manner outlined by the high council. At this he slows down a bit mumbling rude words about their protocols and saying how certain things were a complete waste of time when he'd been doing it a lot easier for 2000 years. Eventually he gets passed that section and gets to the last section as the clock reaches the final minute. These last tests were to answer questions about earth and its history and beliefs. To a normal Time Lord this would be impossible. But since The Doctor knew earth better than he did Gallifrey he answered the questions fairly easily. The door suddenly swings open as the clock stop on 0:01 seconds remaining. They both take a big sigh of relief. "Why do we always make these things so damm close?" The Doctor grumbles. Clara laughs a little. "I've been asking myself that for ages." He looks at her and nods as they step through the doorway.

The next room they find is completely empty. The walls are white and there is no furniture at all. The Doctor and Clara both look round confused when suddenly a bright light shines over them and a voice speaks. "Welcome Lord Doctor and human Clara Oswald. This is the ultimate test. Many can fight an opponent in front of them. But few can fight themselves. Your subconscious and memories will be projected back at you putting you in a virtual world with all your past and present. Your job is to fight your way out overcoming any obstacle. To secure your freedom you must beat yourself. Good luck" The Doctor gasps and swears loudly. Clara jumps and looks at him. "Okay Doctor that doesn't sound too bad right?" He frowns at her for once looking scared. "Are you an idiot or something Clara? This was an old punishment for criminals, they were forced to face their wrong doings. If they killed someone they'd face them and then unless they escape their minds would fold in on themselves and implode. The reason this is so bad is we're going into my mind and memories, all 2000 years of them. Every planet, every monster, every bad choice. The Daleks, Cybermen, The Master, The Rani, Davros, Zygons, Sycorax, Racnoss, Slitheen. All of that and so much more is in there Clara." Clara's eyes widen in shock as she covers her mouth. "Oh my god" Is all she can say. The Doctor takes a deep breath steadying himself. "Right well we're here let's do this" The room suddenly turns black and the doctors mind is projected out as they enter the most dangerous place in the universe. The mind of The Doctor.


End file.
